Leader of the Parliamentary Georgian Dream Faction Mamuka Mdinaradze said on Monday that the ruling party will support a draft law on foreign agents.

"On behalf of the Georgian Dream faction, I can say that we have agreed on the level of principles and we will support it," Mdinaradze said after the meeting of the ruling party.

Representatives of the “People’s Power” movement, formed by the deputies who left “Georgian Dream” but remaining in the parliamentary majority, announced on 14 February that they have drafted a bill on the activities of foreign-funded organizations.

The “People’s Power” movement claims that the bill will be "based on the best Western practices and American legislation".

According to the State Department Spokesperson, statements that this legislation is based on the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) in the United States are patently false.

"In fact, this draft legislation appears to be based on similar Russian and Hungarian legislation," the Spokesperson added.

It should be noted that representatives of the “People’s Power” movement did not say anything about the fact that a similar law was recently enacted in the occupying country of Georgia - Russia, on the basis of which hundreds of journalists, opposition activists, media and non-governmental organizations were declared as "foreign agents" and in fact all those who criticize the government's policy (on the basis of this law) is a subject to punishment in the best case - in the form of a fine and prohibition of activity, and in the worst case - in the form of prison terms.

Opposition political parties, the media, and CSOs have voiced their criticism regarding the bill. Some of them said if it passed, it will jeopardize the country’s EU integration and democracy.

On February 20, the draft law, which has already provoked local and international criticism successfully passed the approval of the parliamentary bureau and was submitted to the committees for consideration. The parliamentary bureau held its meeting under the protest of media representatives, who called on MPs not to adopt “Russian law.”

On February 20 the President of Georgia Salome Zurabishvili refused to support the draft law on foreign agents:

“In the situation when the primary assessment of the fulfilment of the European Commission’s 12 recommendations is being prepared, when the upcoming February 24 makes the question of European future more relevant for the three countries of the Associated Trio, one of the political groups this time chooses to initiate the law that brings us closer to the flawed Russian model and not to the European model. [...] Instead of strengthening Georgia’s European path, a force has been set in motion to choose another path as the Georgian interest. The President of Georgia cannot support such legislation and persecution of new agents".